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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24908776">Salted Caramel Apple Pie</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/asphodellae/pseuds/asphodellae'>asphodellae</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Baking, Enabler Hinata Shouyou, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff, Getting Together, Hinata Shouyou &amp; Kozume Kenma Friendship, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Moving In Together, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Pining, baking together, but there's a twist, name-dropping video games, new neighbor au, no beta we die like men, this is absolutely self-indulgent at this point, timeskip Kunimi owns a bakery because i said so</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:35:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,336</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24908776</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/asphodellae/pseuds/asphodellae</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Shouyo: IS HE CUTE<br/>Kenma: ...<br/>Shouyo: HE <em>IS</em> CUTE!!!!!!! WGATS HIS NAMW<br/>Kenma: Kunimi Akira<br/>Shouyo: WAIT hold on<br/>Shouyo: kozume+kunimi= kozukuni<br/>Shouyo: K O K U<br/>Kenma: why are you like this<br/>Kenma: all i did was bake him an apple pie<br/>Shouyo: yOU BAKED HIM A PIE?!?!?!?!?!<br/>Shouyo: YOURE IN <em>LOVE</em> LOVE HUH KENMA<br/>Kenma: im going to leave you on read</p>
<p>for #haikyuurarepairs2020 started by KAGEHIN0S on Twitter</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kozume Kenma/Kunimi Akira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. apple pie</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hey y'all! i'm jennie aka ASPHODELLAE on twitter. this fic is extremely self-indulgent. i apologize in advance.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kenma considers himself lucky. Despite the obvious work it took for him to get to where he was now, there are some things in Kenma’s life that he knows happened by chance. One of these things is his home. A fifteen-minute train ride away from his favorite cat cafe in Harajuku, a spacious apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows, and a neighborhood that, <em>luckily,</em> isn’t too loud, but isn’t quiet enough to give him the creeps at night. Not to mention the bakery downstairs. The smell of fresh bread and caramel wafts through the floor somehow and makes Kenma crave sweets. It’s a wonder that he hasn’t visited it before, but his schedule hasn’t allowed for it at all until recently. Another lucky thing for Kenma, he’s got more free time starting tonight. Maybe he’ll finally beat his high score in <em>Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.</em> Damn Lightning Cup. Kenma puts his hair up— Mario Kart requires only the <em>highest</em> quality of focus— and is about to press play when a sudden, loud thud comes from the wall behind him, his controller almost slipping from his hands. The only other apartment in the building is empty. Is someone moving in? He pauses the game and sets his controller aside. If someone is moving in, it might be a good idea to- what was it called?- “make a good first impression,” as Shouyo had told him once when he was first interviewing for jobs.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><br/>
“When I get to Rio, I’m going to have to get a job right away,” Shouyo says, voice tinny through the speaker of Kenma’s phone. He’s carding his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit the energetic boy picked up from god-knows-where.</p>
  <p>“Maybe stop tugging at your hair,” Kenma can’t help but smirk a little, “First impressions won’t matter if you’re bald.”</p>
  <p>“KENMA, I WILL COME OVER THERE,” Shouyo yells.</p>
  <p>There’s silence for a moment as both boys look at each other. Then, they burst into giggles.</p>
  <p>Much, much later, Shouyo calls Kenma again, at an ungodly hour of the morning (which is fine, he was awake anyway) and excitedly tells him that he did it— he got a job.</p>
  <p>“Good for you.”</p>
  <p>Kenma is smiling when the call ends with the orange-haired man promising to call again.<br/>
</p>
</blockquote><p>Kenma blinks back to reality. What was he going to—? Oh. Yeah. First impressions. He looks at the time. It’s not too late. Kenma could bake an apple pie— his favorite— and if it turns out bad (it won’t), he can just say that the bakery downstairs has better ones (although Kenma has never been there before). Yes. It’s a good plan.</p>
<hr/><p>Kunimi swears that he owned less than this. He’s done moving boxes, but at what cost? It’s too late for dinner, but not late enough to go to sleep. Speaking of, he still has to set up the futon. Compared to volleyball practice whenever Oikawa was angry and still captain of Aoba Johsai, Kunimi thinks that the whole process of moving is ten times worse (okay maybe he’s being dramatic, Oikawa was <em>ruthless</em> whenever he was mad).</p><p>(Somewhere in Argentina, Oikawa sneezes.)</p><p>Kunimi is about to have a “screw it” moment and allow himself to fall asleep on the couch when a knock at the front door startles him from his exhaustion. He opens the door to find— wait. He’s seen this guy before. And he’s holding an apple pie and shuffling his feet.</p><p>“Hi,” the familiar man starts quietly, “I’m the guy next door. My name is Kozume Kenma. This is for you,” he holds up the pie.</p><p>“Uh, thanks, Kozume.” <em>Very articulate, Kunimi.</em></p><p>“Kenma is fine.”</p><p>“Then, thank you, Kenma. Please, come in. Sorry for the mess, I’m just moving in.”</p><p>“That’s fine. Pardon the intrusion.”</p><p>Kunimi tells Kenma that he can put the pie on the kitchen counter while he gets the plates and utensils. It’s when they’re sitting down and sharing the pie that Kunimi remembers to ask.</p><p>“Kenma, you’re familiar somehow. Where have I seen you before? You didn’t go to Aoba Johsai.”</p><p>Kenma blinks up at Kunimi. Oh, that’s kind of cute. Wait, what?</p><p>“It might have been because I played volleyball in high school. I was Nekoma’s setter. We played against Aoba Johsai maybe once or twice. You played middle blocker, I think?”</p><p>“Yeah, I did. Good to see you again. My name is Kunimi Akira. Akira is fine.”</p><p>“Good to see you, Akira.”</p><p>The two exchange small smiles, both remembering each other’s quiet nature.</p><p>“What brings you to this neighborhood?”</p><p>Kenma tilts his head to punctuate the question.</p><p>“I, uh, run the bakery downstairs.”</p><p>“Oh,” Kenma says, his eyes widening, “I'm sorry for my apple pie then. It probably isn’t as good as the ones you sell.”</p><p>“Actually, I really like it. So, uh, don’t apologize.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s good. I’m glad.”</p><p>Akira refuses to say anything out loud about it, but the way that Kenma’s eyes light up at the praise is just a little bit adorable. Okay, maybe a lot.</p><p>So he <em>might</em> be a bi disaster, sue him.</p><p>Akira decides to pointedly ignore his inner bisexual panic, smiling as he replies, “I’ll have to treat you to a pie from my bakery sometime.”</p><p>“Okay, I’ll look forward to it.”</p><p>The two men finish their slices of pie, Kenma offering to do the dishes to allow Akira to unpack further. Akira politely tells Kenma that he’d feel bad for making a guest do a chore. The blond shakes his head, saying that he knocked on Akira’s door with the intention of helping his new neighbor out in whatever way he could.</p><p>Shit. He’s cute as hell.</p><p>Akira gratefully accepts.</p>
<hr/><p>It’s almost ten pm when Kenma and his new neighbor get done unpacking, but Akira is the opposite of a bother. Kenma has found, throughout the evening, that Akira is— borrowing words from Shouyo— low-key his type. Kenma tries not to think about it too hard as he and Akira plan to meet again for dinner tomorrow, as a thank you for helping the other man unpack.</p><p>Kenma also tries not to think about him too hard as he slips into bed that night, but ultimately fails when Shouyo texts him about the said neighbor.</p><p>Shouyo: so? how’d it go?? did being a good neighbor work??? :D<br/>
Kenma: i think so<br/>
Kenma: we’re on a first-name basis<br/>
Shouyo: :D!!!!!!!!!<br/>
Shouyo: IS HE CUTE<br/>
Kenma: ...<br/>
Shouyo: he IS cute!!!!!! WGATS HIS NAMW<br/>
Kenma: kunimi akira<br/>
Shouyo: WAIT hold on<br/>
Shouyo: kozume+kunimi= kozukuni<br/>
Shouyo: K O K U<br/>
Kenma: why are you like this<br/>
Kenma: all i did was bake him an apple pie<br/>
Shouyo: yOU BAKED HIM A PIE?!?!?!?!?!<br/>
Shouyo: YOURE IN <em>LOVE</em> LOVE HUH KENMA<br/>
Kenma: im going to leave you on read<br/>
Shouyo: ASHAJKHFL I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!!!<br/>
Kenma: i h8 u<br/>
Shouyo: OSHJFKDKFLFL NO U DONT<br/>
Kenma: no I don’t</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>kunimi says bi rights &lt;3</p><p>also can you tell that i <em>absolutely</em> got carried away? there's gonna be at least one more chapter</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. someone sneezes again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this one's pretty dialogue heavy, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do to <em>really</em> get the ball rollin'.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>Kenma pads into his kitchen the next morning wearing his company’s pajama merchandise just because he can. Yawning, he realizes he can take the time to prepare more than just a quick meal (also known as cereal and a protein bar from his stash in the cupboard), since there’s nowhere to rush to; there are no meetings to be late for, no deadlines to be met, no investors to impress. Kenma has never loved the word “no” more in his life. As he finishes his food, the smell of bread and pastries, coming from downstairs as always, decides to make itself known. Kenma cleans up in the kitchen and prepares to <em>really</em> start his day by visiting the bakery downstairs.</p><p>“It smells good from upstairs, but wow. I regret not coming here until now,” Kenma mumbles, unable to decide between two loaves of sourdough bread. </p><p>The one in his left hand is heavier, but it looks like it would make a satisfying crunch if he toasted it. It might go well with a hearty soup. The loaf in his right hand is lighter, and Kenma thinks that this loaf would be more suited to breakfast sandwiches; light loaves make for light slices, perfect for people on the go. But Kenma is kind of on vacation: His second-in-command had kindly yet firmly recommended that he take a break before his health took a hit and that the company would be fine for two weeks, which was corporate speak for <em>Please don’t overwork yourself and die, that would be incredibly stupid.</em></p><p>“-llo? Kenma? You okay?”</p><p>Kenma startles, almost dropping the bread as he whips around to face Akira, whose face of mild concern turns to less mild concern and mild panic because <em>please don’t drop the bread</em> and all of a sudden warm hands are brushing against Kenma’s and the weight of the bread is gently and swiftly lifted from his hands.</p><p>“Oh, hi Akira. Good morning. Sorry for spacing out.” Kenma is <em>not</em> blushing as he says this. He’s not.</p><p>The other man smiles apologetically, replying, “It’s my bad for startling you. You were pretty deep in thought, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah, I was,” Kenma smiles back, the smile turning rueful as he continues, “I didn’t even realize. I was thinking about work. I’m supposed to be on vacation, though.”</p><p>“Uh, being a workaholic is bad for the heart, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Oh, please. That’s exactly what my co-worker said before respectfully kicking me out of my office. I feel like you two would get along,” Kenma smirks, playful. </p><p>Wait, since when did he do <em>banter?</em> And mildly <em>flirty</em> banter at that? What? Huh? Kenma blames Shouyo for this. When in doubt, blame Shouyo. </p><p>(Somewhere in Brazil, Shouyo sneezes.)</p><p>“Well, if trying to pick between two loaves of bread is really that thought-provoking, I might have to agree with that statement,” Akira grins. “Did you end up making a decision at all?”</p><p>“Yeah, the heavier one. Not sure which hand it’s in, though.”</p><p>“I get you,” Akira replies, putting the lighter loaf back on the shelf, “I think this one goes well with soup. It’s certainly got enough weight to hold its form in it.”</p><p>“I thought the same thing just now. Woah.”</p><p>“That just means you have taste, hon.”</p><p>Was that a flirt, or does Akira just talk like that??? Kenma is dying. Is his face as flushed as he feels? Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Oh, shit. He needs to say something. He needs to speak words.</p><p>“I guess it does.” Kenma smiles. <em>Very articulate,</em> Kenma.</p><p>“Here, let me wrap it. I’ll be right back, feel free to look around some more, although I recommend not going deep into thought over cookies and cakes.” </p><p>Smirking, Akira disappears into the back, the double doors to the kitchen swinging in his wake like some kind of cafe-centric rom-com. Kenma remembers Shouyo recommending a Korean drama like that a while back, citing that it helped him forget about his own sad, empty lovelife. (“You <em>have</em> a love life?” A gasp on the other end of the call. “I genuinely thought the only thing in your brain was volleyball.” Hinata wails, and Kenma ends up laughing at his own joke.)</p><p>A few minutes pass, although Kenma isn’t really counting, and Akira emerges carrying an ornate paper bag, embossed with gold lettering reading <em>Looking Glass Bakery and Cafe</em>. Kenma knows it’s just machine printing, but it’s still quite nice to look at. </p><p>“The bag.” Kenma starts, suddenly at a loss for words.</p><p>“What about it?”</p><p>“It’s… pretty. It’s nice to look at, I mean. It looks good.”</p><p>“Oh, um, thank you,” Akira smiles sheepishly. “I designed it myself.”</p><p>“Oh, wow. My work could totally benefit from having someone like you around.”</p><p>“You’re supposed to be on vacation.”</p><p>“Agh. Just let me pay for it and I’ll let <em>you</em> get back to work.”</p><p>“Tell you what,” Akira grins lazily, “you help me with dinner, and it’s on the house.</p><p>“Deal. I’ll see you later then.”</p><p>“Back at you.”</p><p> </p><p>Upstairs, in his apartment, Kenma sits, dumbfounded. His bag from Akira’s bakery is open, but there’s more than just sourdough bread in there. There’s a sizable assortment of cookies, and— was that a slice of cake?! (Honestly, how had he not noticed?) Somewhere in the sugary depths, Kenma’s hands find a slip of paper.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><br/>
Kenma,<br/>
Thank you for the pie yesterday. This is my way of thanking you for also helping me unpack everything. Without your help, I probably would have taken a whole week to unpack, and ended up sleeping on my couch instead of a proper bed and then I probably would have gotten back pains. So, I really appreciate it. I’m lucky to have you as a neighbor. By the way, can you pick up some onions at the store? I ran out a few days ago and haven’t been able to buy them with the whole moving thing I’ve been doing. They’re an ingredient we need for dinner tonight. Thank you in advance.<br/>
-- Akira<br/>
</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <em>Sneaky motherfucker.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Despite what a stranger might gather from his general disinterest in all things academic, Kenma is smart. He is <em>aware</em> that normal neighbors don’t behave this way. At the same time, he’s never really met Akira before, and <em>yes</em> the man is <strike>very</strike> cute and seems interested, but Kenma doesn’t know how much of that is actual observation and how much of it is just wishful thinking. He tells Shouyo just as much. Shouyo, of course, isn’t much help; all the other man does is egg Kenma on, saying <em>nonsense</em> like <em>go get ur mans</em> and <em>this is better than any soap opera on tv in brazil</em> to which Kenma snarkily replies <em>at least i have a lovelife,</em> which earns him an indignant squawk. The sound of it has Kenma <em>rolling</em>. They end with their usual goodbyes, although Shouyo ends up with the last laugh, cheerily reminding Kenma of his upcoming dinner plans.</p><p>Oh, right.</p><p>Shit, the onions.</p><p>
  <em>”I’m lucky to have you as a neighbor.”</em>
</p><p>Kenma buys the damn onions.</p>
<hr/>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>next chapter: they have dinner together! afterward, kenma tells shouyo about it, and, of course, chaos ensues.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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